A True View of a Trading House of a Yokohama Merchant

Utagawa (Gountei) Sadahide

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This triptych encapsulates what happens when cultures meet and artists try to capture the collision of indigenous and imported fashions. A Western woman in a capacious skirt, cape, and bonnet plays the Japanese children’s game of battledores (a forerunner of badminton) with an elegantly dressed Japanese townswoman. Merchants in top hats get on with business as Japanese, Chinese, and Middle Eastern servants do the manual lifting. The Japanese were shocked (but also clearly fascinated) by the dress and behavior of American women and, more generally, by the relations between Western men and women, which differed greatly from Japanese norms.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.

Metropolitan Museum of Art